James Murdoch To Run a Major Portion of U.S. TV Business For News Corp., Says Report in News Corp.-Owned Wall Street Journal

"News Corp.is planning to give James Murdoch, son of chairman Rupert Murdoch, oversight of the Fox Networks Group, which includes the Fox broadcast network and cable networks such as FX, say people familiar with the situation," reports Martin Peers and John Jannarone at the website of the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ is also owned by News Corp.[WSJ.com is behind a firewall and may charge you to read this article.]

The article continues, "Mr. Murdoch, [39], is already deputy chief operating officer of News Corp. but the new role will give a clearer picture of his responsibilities. Reporting to him will be Peter Rice, who was recently appointed chairman and chief executive of Fox Networks Group. The Fox Networks Group doesn’t include Fox News channel, one of the most lucrative parts of the TV business, or the U.S. TV stations."

The AFP report adds that the reports of James Murdoch’s expanded responsibilities "come after Britain’s media regulator [Ofcom] on Wednesday blasted the younger Murdoch for failing to uncover the [phone] hacking scandal at his father’s media empire. Ofcom had been reviewing whether pay-TV giant BSkyB, which is 39-percent owned by News Corp, was "fit and proper" to hold a broadcasting license in the wake of the scandal.

"The watchdog allowed BSkyB to keep broadcasting but said its former chairman James Murdoch ‘repeatedly fell short’ of his responsibilities as executive chairman of his father’s British newspaper wing, News International. ‘We consider James Murdoch’s conduct, including his failure to initiate action on his own account on a number of occasions, to be both difficult to comprehend and ill-judged,’ it said."

The WSJ’s story about Murdoch added, "News Corp. on Thursday said that it was ‘pleased’ that Ofcom had recognized BSkyB as a proper license holder but the company also said it disagreed ‘with certain of the report’s statements about James Murdoch’s prior actions as an executive and director, which are not at all substantiated by evidence.’ "